Breathing Underwater (and Other Impossible Things)
by LogicBomb.32
Summary: AU: Bo is a journalist with a side business of helping people in tricky situations, when a desperate doctor comes her way, Bo takes the case without a second thought. The deeper they dig, the more twisted the case becomes and Bo doesn't know if this story is worth the risk. But she's knee deep in it now (and falling hard for the doctor), the only choice she has is to see it through
1. The Plunge

**A/N: I will keep this brief for you all, this is my first Lost Girl fic but not my first story. I love the show and was struck with this idea because (amongst other things) this show needs more Doccubus fanfiction. Thoughts, comments, concerns, constructive criticism is always appreciated and I will do my best to reply! Enjoy. **

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4:53pm

Union Station, Chicago, IL (USA)

Lauren hated waiting, she hated feeling like she was on the edge of a cliff that with one wrong step would send her spiraling down into a chasm of panic and desperation. She hated sitting on this cold, hard bench watching the people pass her by and wonder if any of them were this mysterious 'Bo' character. All this hate was fueled by the paranoia that had consumed her, she hadn't slept properly or kept down a decent meal in weeks and the stress was beginning to take its toll on her.

She looked down at her watch, 4:54, she still had six minutes of waiting ahead of her and the growing tension in her stomach was only getting worse. Lauren watched the passing pedestrians, watched the solo businessman walking to the train that would take him to his suburban house with his happy, smiling wife and perfect, academically achieving kids. She saw the packs of teenagers, just getting out of their afternoon activities head to the only train that went through Beverly.

It was getting more and more crowded as the seconds ticked by and the clock crept ever closer to five pm. There would only be more people, more chaos, more confusion as Chicago's largest train station filled to capacity. Lauren gulped, maybe this had been a mistake, a shiver cascaded down her spine and she clutched the handle of her purse tighter. Dyson wouldn't set her up, not for something this serious.

_This is life and death_. She'd told him _My entire career is on the line here, you can't screw around_. He'd gotten that, that this was not just some doctors paranoid ideas gone into overdrive, that this situation was real and concrete and terrifying. Right?

4:57.

Lauren was seconds away from getting up and heading home where she could drink some tea and _try _to calm down. She could call Dyson and tell him that this 'Bo' person hadn't shown, that he still owed her.

Someone sat down next to her.

Lauren didn't dare look. She felt her stomach leap up into her throat and her fight or flight instincts kicked in. She needed to get out of here. She looked towards the figure to her left; out of the corner of her eye Lauren could tell that it was a woman, an incredibly beautiful woman. She had dark hair that cascaded down her shoulders as she studied a message on her phone. Lauren looked away, _just another person trying to get on with their life, nothing to get worked up about _she thought, trying to convince herself that everything was alright.

The woman shifted next to her and Lauren felt her throat go dry. The grand entrance to Union Station was humming with people and energy. There was a buzz in the air that was distinct only as _Friday, _everyone was celebrating the end of the week, everyone was ready to get home and that made people restless and eager to get to their destinations.

4:59.

"You can bolt if you like Doc, but it'd be a waste of your time and mine." It took Lauren a moment to realize that she was in a half standing position and the person to whom that voice belonged was in fact the woman sitting next to her.

Lauren sat back down, and glanced again at the woman. Her phone was gone and she was studying Lauren with amused eyes "Nervous?" the woman asked, "I'm Bo, Dyson said you needed some help."

"You-you're Bo?" Lauren stammered, simultaneously trying to mask her surprise and get a handle on the blush creeping up her neck.

Bo laughed, "Who were you expecting?"

"I, I don't know." Lauren sighed honestly, taking a second look at Bo and trying to ignore the way her heart continued to pound.

The woman was fit, and not afraid to flatter her body. She wore dark, tight pants and a shirt that showed quite a bit of cleavage (not that Lauren was necessarily complaining). The boots she wore rose to just below her knees and in her quick glance Lauren was sure she caught sight of what had to be a knife strapped to Bo's calf.

"You like sandwiches?" Bo asked, looking at the doctor.

"What, sandwiches? Sure." Lauren said, standing as Bo did.

"Good because I know this great little dive that serves the best sandwiches in the city. We'll talk there."

"Oh-okay." Lauren said, not sure how she felt about this suddenly turning into a date _No. _she scolded _Not a date, she's a-a colleague trying to help you. If she can. _Lauren added miserably.

They stepped outside into the light and cool air of a September evening "Gotta love this city." Bo said "You from Chicago?"

"No, Seattle originally. Came to Northwestern for grad school and couldn't leave the city." Lauren explained "I'm a doctor, pediatric surgeon at Children's Memorial Hospital."

"Kids." Bo noted as they turned left and headed away from the busiest of downtown areas.

"You not a fan?" Lauren asked, this time with her own amused curiosity.

"No, it's not that I'm not a fan." Bo explained hastily " I just, surgery, that's gotta be intense and depressing to work with all those sick kids."

"It can be." Lauren agreed "But one of my friends, a peds surgeon out in Seattle put it best. We were talking and she told me what she told her interns on their first rotation, the thing about working with kids is that they believe in magic and they play pretend and there's fairy dust in their IV bags. They hope and they cross their fingers and they make wishes. And that makes them more resilient than adults. They recover faster, survive worse. Working with kids is hard, yeah, but it's worth it when the parents smile and they know their kid is going to be alright."

They turned into a storefront and Lauren just managed to catch a glimpse of the sign as they entered the tiny restaurant. It was less restaurant though and more half convenience store, half deli. There was a glass case full of meats and cheeses and a couple of dishes that Lauren didn't recognize "The Dal." Bo said "Tiny, unnoticeable and serving the best food in the city."

"Just the way I like it." A voice from behind the case said and Lauren looked over to see a man, looking over the counter at them "I'm assuming this is a business call." He said, directing the comment at Bo, who slid into one of the booths that line a portion of the back wall.

"Lauren, this is Trick. Trick this is Lauren, the doctor Dyson was talking about." Bo explained as means of introduction "Is Kenzi around?"

Trick shook his head "I've got her out running some errands, she should be back soon though. You two planning on eating?"

Bo looked over at Lauren who was at this point feeling almost out of place, but very hungry. She nodded "Sure, I could eat." She agreed, but her stomach flopped as she remembered the purpose of this entire visit.

Trick came out from behind the counter and handed Lauren a menu "I'll be in the back, just give me a shout when you're ready to order." He said and disappeared through a doorway.

Lauren set the menu down and look at Bo from across the table "Do you want to eat first or talk?" Bo asked "Mind you, you look like you're about to hurl so maybe we should talk first."

Lauren swallowed and nodded "That, that sounds good."

"So start at the beginning." Bo prompted.

"I'm a doctor." Lauren starts, feeling her mouth go dry "A surgeon, and about two months ago I started noticing we were getting a lot of patients with the same symptoms. It would present like appendicitis so they would be rushed into my OR and then we'd cut them open and the appendix would be fine. We'd poke around, just to make sure that everything else was okay and then we'd close up, leaving the kids still in great amounts of pain. Over the next couple days the pain gets worse, and none of the medications do anything, not even our strongest dosages have any effect. We give these kids CT scans, MRIs, we run every test we can think of, but nothing seemed to be wrong. Now after about a week the pain suddenly vanishes and the kids are totally fine, worse for wear and a little scared but they're okay."

Lauren pauses, watching Bo, who's looking at her with passive interest "So mystery illness is infecting kids." Bo says "Keep going."

"So I told my boss and my bosses boss what was going on. They told me that we must not be doing the right tests and to keep searching. So I did, I called some of my colleagues, other doctors, to see what they thought and one of them suggested I take blood samples from the beginning of the cycle and the end to compare."

"So you did." Bo supplied as Lauren broke off, twisting her hands together and glancing around "and what did you find?"

"Nothing." Lauren said "At least at first, by appearance the blood samples seemed the be the same. But I did some probing of individual cells and found their make-up has been altered. The main DNA of the cell is intact but there is an extra protein-peptide complex inhibiting all the cells.'

"Protein-peptide complex?" Bo asked

"Like whey, the stuff protein shakes are made of. Except these complexes are harmful, it's a venom complex sitting in the blood cells and yet it's completely dormant." Lauren explained, or tried to. She looked at Bo desperately "Does that make sense?"

"So these kids blood cells are developing into venomous, uh, things?" Bo asked

"Mutating." Lauren corrected "But this can't happen of it's own accord this needs some sort of source, some instigator. So I reported it to my boss, who was away at a conference at the time. He told me that he would be back the following day and I could explain everything to him then. The next morning all the blood samples and all my notes about any of my cases for the past three months are gone."

There it was, or almost was. Bo watched the woman across from her go rigid as she recounted the memory, she noticed the way the vein at the curve of her neck bulged and fluttered as she kept talking. Bo saw the stress wash over the doctor, but still she restrained from comforting, there was more to this story, just one last piece that's she's missing and she needed it, needed to hear it for herself. But Bo wasn't all distant emotions and cruelty "You want some water?"

Lauren nodded "Please."

The doctor watched as Bo disappeared behind the counter and let out a long breath. There was one last detail, the hardest most horrifying part to this entire tale that she was yet to talk about. And as Bo reappeared she wondered if she'd have the strength to tell it.

The water was cool against her lips and glass gave her hands something to do besides twist useless in her lap. Bo had retrieved a soda for herself and it sat, unopened on the table, as she looked at Lauren "What's the last part of the story?" she asked gently

Lauren took another long drink of water, almost draining the glass "I told my boss, the chief of surgery, that all my notes were gone and the samples and I filed the report, but nothing ever came of it. There's not even the paperwork for it anymore. And when I asked him about it, he told me that there was nothing that could be done. So I tried to recollect some samples but all my patients were pulled, anyone who showed symptoms of this mutation were whisked away to another ward, under another doctor. I tried to protest, was writing a letter to the board, but someone" she broke off closing her eyes and forcing out a breath "someone broke into my apartment and ruined all of my research that I had done, stole my laptop, shredded my notes and all the work I'd done trying to connect the patients, it's all gone."

"So they, whoever they are, know where you live and don't want you messing around with their blood mutation scheme." Bo said

"Yes, but this is an incredibly dangerous mutation, if they are injected with a vaccine or even eat something that has a triggering agent for the venom in the blood, they will die in seconds. It would be a toxic overload, but I can't do anything. I'm already on probation and if I go near it again- I don't want the same people to break into my house again." Lauren paused and looked at Bo "Something serious is going on and I, I didn't know who else to go to."

"You talked to Dyson." Bo said and Lauren nodded "What did he say?"

"He said that there wasn't enough to launch a full investigation, that if the hospital was covering its tracks and I had no solid proof, that it would be my word against theirs." She explained "But he told me that there was someone else who could help. Someone who doesn't have the confines of the law restraining them like he does."

"And he gave you my name." Bo said

"Yes, but what I don't get it how can you help? I'll take help anyway I can, but what can you do?"

"I'm going to assume that Dyson didn't tell you what I do for a living."

"No, didn't tell me anything besides your name."

"Okay, well, I'm a freelance journalist, I write bits for The Reader, The Tribune, sometimes magazines. That's what keep me alive and pays the rent, but there's a side business that I set up a couple years back, I help people in desperate, most of the time dangerous, situations. I've dealt with gangbangers who have too much confidence and not enough common sense, cabbies who blackmail their passengers, and a dozen stories crazier than those to. What you're looking for is exactly what I can provide."

"I'm looking for miracle."

"No" Bo corrected "What you're looking for is someone who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty, who won't take no for an answer and knows how to handle themselves when the times call for it." _When _Lauren noted, and she couldn't deny that Bo was in all aspects correct "And I can do that, all of it. But you have to answer me one question."

"Anything." Lauren nodded

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bo asked and fixed her with a steady gaze "I need you to be one hundred percent into this because if I get started and all of a sudden you get a change of heart or can't handle the truth, I'm not dropping it. I don't work like that, never have, never will." She said simply

Lauren thought for a moment, remembered the nights the patients, her patients, her kids, would cry themselves to sleep because the pain was too much. She remembered the haunted looks of the parents, the tortured expressions on their faces as they suffered right along with their children. That was enough, that was enough to drive her because no one, no child, no parent, should ever suffer like those families did "I'm sure." She said "I want to know what's going on."

"Okay." Bo nodded "Then what I need you to do is keep going to work like nothing is wrong, like you're staying away from the patients like you're supposed to. Did you ever find out how the kids, those patients, how were they connected?"

Lauren shrugged "There wasn't a whole lot to go on, the internet could only tell me so much and the parent's weren't up for much talking. It wasn't a sports team, it wasn't school, the parents weren't friends as far as I could see. It seemed like just random chance."

"I doubt that." Bo said "If you believe that this couldn't have happened of its own accord, then there's got to be a common denominator. That's where we'll start, playing connect the dots with your patients."

The door to The Dal opened and Lauren looked over to see a black haired, dark eyed, very irritated looking woman enter, she looked to be in her early twenties, maybe nineteen years old at the youngest "Trick!" the girl shouted "Did you just conveniently forget to tell me that you owed this guy money or were you expecting me to pay that debt too?" she set two bags down behind the counter and turned her attention to Bo and Lauren.

"Bo-Bo!" she said "I wasn't expecting you here until tonight, or did you bring the client with you?"

"Lauren, this is Kenzi. Kenzi this is Lauren, our newest client." Bo said, moving over as Kenzi took a seat next to her.

"Finally!" Kenzi cheered "It's been too long since we've done some real work."

The introductions were interrupted by Lauren's phone going off "Sorry." She said, pulling it out of her bag and answering "Doctor Lewis."

Kenzi looked at Bo and mouthed _"Doctor Lewis?" _

Bo just rolled her eyes and focused something that wasn't Kenzi telling her to sleep with their latest client. Lauren talked for another minute or so, taking details of a patient as she did. When she hung up she turned to Bo "Well here you are." She said "I've got an emergency patient that I need to get to" she explained standing up and collecting her things "Thank you." She said "Really, thank you."

"It's our pleasure." Bo said "We'll talk tomorrow."

It wasn't that she was feeling much better about the situation, rather talking to Bo made it feel like she had someone on her side, someone who would hopefully help her figure out what the hell was going on here. Bo watched the doctor leave, making sure she was out of sight before turning to Kenzi "What do you know about nursing?"

There was a flicker of confusion across Kenzi's face before she started shaking her head "No no way Bo. Not in a million years."

"Please? It wouldn't be-"

"Have ever met a nurse?" Kenzi asked "They terrify me."

"Even pediatric nurses?"

"Especially pediatric nurses, they have to deal with crazy parents. There is no way that plan is happening. No way." Kenzi said, standing up and moving off to go find Trick "Get another plan sister, find another way."

****end chapter one****


	2. Project X-Men

**A/N: I must say that I am absolutely thrilled by the feedback that I received on the first chapter, so thank you guys for taking the time to read and review. I'm going to clarify one thing before letting you guys go to read the second chapter, in this story everyone is human. This doesn't mean that our lovely characters aren't special (because let me tell you they've got some mad skills) but I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. Enjoy**!

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Bo was sitting on the couch surrounded by a myriad of medical papers, textbooks, complex diagrams and (to one side) a large bag of pretzels. Kenzi was on the other side of this swath of information, scanning the medical articles they'd spent all afternoon printing and taking this time to highlight sections that were particularly helpful and discarding those that served no purpose. Bo had a pen between her lips and was typing away at the computer, writing, circling and connecting people to groups and groups to anyone.

After a particularly furious minute of crossing out an entire page of information Bo let out an exasperated sigh "This is useless." She groaned, shutting her laptop with bruising force as the pen fell to her lap "This is all useless. We can't do anything, go anywhere on this case without knowing the source of the mutations."

Kenzi set down her highlighter and moved the papers in her lap to the larger pile of _useless _that sat to her left "I feel ya Bo, but how do we connect them without more information? Their names won't do us much good, the internet is a big, big place and-"

"For ever Daniel Cooper I enter into Google I get ten more people fitting his description. We need the actual physical files, which brings us back to the original plan." Bo sighed, reaching into the bag for a handful of pretzels.

"I'm sorry Bo, you know that I would do anything for a case, but hospitals, I just can't do it. Can't even fake my way in." Kenzi apologized, leaning back on the hardwood floor "Blame it on the trauma's of my youth." She added

"I know, I know Kenz and I'm not going to make you do anything you're not comfortable with. But that leaves us stuck because you're the one with the photographic memory and that's the only way to get the information we need out of the hospital." Bo sighed in frustration, this case was becoming more and more impossible, but the thought of calling Lauren and admitting that they can't do it, that they can't help, it struck a cord in Bo.

Maybe not a cord per say but something closely related to her ego. She'd done a lot of work over the years, gotten into some pretty tight corners and had always managed to come out of it on the other side. Part of her had taken this case on a whim, without a second thought, because there was something about Lauren, something that twisted Bo's insides and flipped them out. She'd wanted to impress Lauren, impress her all the way to the bedroom? Perhaps, but now she was looking at a very large, very complex web of lies which only led to one well endowed person after the next.

"So what's the plan? I know you've got something we can do, something we can work with to get the information we need." Kenzi encouraged from her spot on the floor "Let's talk about the options, how can a kid get a blood cell mutating protein-pop tart thingy?"

"Protein-peptide." Bo corrected with a grin "It says here" she starts, digging down to some of the earliest research they'd done "normal protein-peptides can be taken orally, in power form most of the time, but in venom types it has to be a liquid."

"Okay, so that brings us down to what, almost everything, juice boxes, milk, water bottles, that list is endless." Kenzi said

"This is a nightmare." Bo said "We have nowhere to start."

They lapsed into silence for a while, Bo habitually eating pretzels until Kenzi popped up "I have an idea."

"What, we hold up the hospital and demand the files?" Bo suggested

"As tempting as that sounds, no, this has nothing to do with Project X-men." Kenzi said, standing up and moving to drag Bo off the sofa "I call it Project Ice Cream."

"Project X-Men?" Bo questioned, not resisting as she was upped into a standing position "And it's 9:45 at night, where are we going to get ice cream?"

"Have you forgotten the wonders of the twenty-four hours Baskin and Robbins we live oh so close to?" Kenzi asked "And please tell me you've watched X-Men, you know the mutant superheroes who go around saving the world from other mutants?"

Bo paused then shook her head "Sorry Kenz, it doesn't ring a bell."

"What did you do growing up, live under a rock?" Kenzi asked indignantly

"Nearly, but not quite." Bo said "Try middle of nowhere USA."

"So same thing then?" Kenzi shrugged "We're watching the X-Men movies when we get back you realize this right?"

"We can't Kenz, there are a million other things we have to do, we don't have time for movies."

Heading out the door and into the hallway of the their place of residence, Kenzi shook her head "It doesn't matter Bo, we need a break from the science-y geek talk for a bit and we can pick this up tomorrow. This is one argument you're not going to win."

"I seem to be losing a lot lately." Bo replied, shaking her head "We still need a way to get into the records room of the hospital."

"Remind me why Dr. Lewis can't do it?"

"Because Lauren is already on probation and if she even goes near any of those cases again she could get fired, or worse."

"Right." Kenzi replied doubtfully "So why don't you pose as a resident or something, I'm sure you're more than capable of talking your way past the desk clerk."

"Then what?" Bo asked as they stepped out into the night air, the sounds of the city surrounding them "The problem is there's not a copy machine to use and it's illegal remove any of the files from the-"

"I got it. Give me your keys." Kenzi demanded, holding her hand out expectantly.

"What are you talking about?" Bo shouted to Kenzi's back as the dark haired woman vanished back in to the apartment complex.

Bo's phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, unlocking it with a touch and reading the message that had popped up

_From: Dyson _

_Sent: 9:51 pm _

_You talked to Lauren? _

_To: Dyson _

_Sent: 9:52 pm _

_Yeah, she was pretty freaked. I think there's more _

_going on than what she told me. _

Bo slipped her phone away as Kenzi comes running back out a mysterious object clutched in her hand "This" she panted as she handed Bo her keys back "This is the answer."

Bo looked skeptical, the object looked like a slate grey three ring hole puncher "What is it Kenz?"

"This" she said grinning "Is a pocket scanner."

"A what?"

"Like a copy machine, but a mini-pocket version. All you have to do is put the paper through and it scans a digital copy to the computer." Kenzi explained "I don't know why I didn't think of this before."

Bo took the object in her hands and looked at it "So all I have to do is not get caught?"

"Almost." Kenzi said, biting her lip as they turned the corner and the illumination of the Dunkin Donuts sign was seen in the distance "The computer the scans are being sent to has to be within three hundred meters of the scanner."

"Three hundred meters" Bo repeated "That means you're going to have to come with me."

"Yes."

"I could ask Dyson to do it."

"No, no, I'll do it." Kenzi sighed "I'll put on the big girl boots and if we get lucky I can sit in the cafeteria with my computer open while you break in. But this all hinges on where the records room is."

"Lauren would know that." Bo said

"Or we could just wing it?" Kenzi suggested "Unless you're looking for reasons to call the good doctor."

"Shut-up Kenz." Bo grumbled "I don't like her like that, she's a client."

Kenzi let out a laugh, "that sounds familiar 'I don't like him like that Kenzi, he's just a friend, we're just friends.'" She mimicked "And next thing, BAM, I need ear plugs because Dyson can't keep it in his pants."

Bo said nothing, shaking her head and walking to the counter "Two scoops mint chocolate chip please." She said, before turning back to Kenzi "That was different and you know it."

"So Dyson wasn't a client, he was the sexy cop who saved both our asses and you decided to thank him. But one time turned into two and two turned into 'holy shit we're dating'. I'm not faulting you Bo darling, but reminding you of your tendency to sleep with those you're working with."

"Dyson is one example."

"Ryan."

"Two." Bo conceded, taking seat "But that's not the point. "

"So what is the point?" Kenzi asked "You're suddenly taking a streak of celibacy?"

"No." Bo groaned "It's just Ryan was before Dyson, but with Dyson and his 'I can't love you right now' speech—"

"You're stuck?" Kenzi asked, saving some chocolate ice cream from slipping off the cone.

"I don't know." Bo supplied unhelpfully "I'm getting over Dyson but when I see him all the time, it's hard to forget what we had going on."

"But it's not entirely his fault." Kenzi reminded her "The shooting, it screwed him up. Changed him mentally, maybe he won't be ready for a relationship ever."

"Just because he lost his love or whatever doesn't mean that I did."

"So maybe Lauren is the distraction you need." Kenzi threw out there, she'd seen first hand what the fractured relationship with Dyson had done to Bo.

There had been large amounts of drinking, long nights in the impound yard smashing cars with golf clubs and in the end a break down on Bo's part after a particularly painful conversation with Dyson

_He says that it's over. That whatever we had is gone, lost. _

It hadn't been easy, watching Bo fight herself into tears. Watching her friend, who had been so alone for so long and had finally opened herself up to someone, be broken like that. Kenzi had been tempted, on many levels, to kick Dyson's ass herself, but she knew the circumstances were larger than Bo maybe even realized.

Not that that had been an excuse, life altering gunshot wound or not Dyson should have had least had the balls to explain the truth to Bo, explain it so that Kenzi wouldn't have had to.

"_Bo, you know the complications Dyson had during surgery?" _

"_Yeah, of course." _

"_Do you know what they were?"_

"_He never told me exactly." _

At that point Kenzi understood the extent of Bo's frustrations, Dyson had broken up with her, right in the moments when they should have been together and strong, for no apparent reason. He hadn't explained that

"_When he was in surgery, there was a blood clot in his brain and the part of the brain that was effected was the part where his emotions are controlled. How his body processes emotions is messed up, out of whack and there's only a slim chance that his brain will be able to completely repair the damage." _

Watching the flood of understanding, then anger, followed by confusion and hurt roll through her best friend had been one of the hardest things Kenzi had ever witnessed. Bo had changed after that, more rigid in her emotions, less talking of Dyson or even his work and she'd flung herself into some particularly difficult (and dangerous) cases.

"I've already got a distraction" Bo said, her tone sharp and biting "This case, genetic mutations, paranoid doctors and no leads."

Kenzi caught Bo's drift and dropped the topic, although she was willing to bet that Bo would be putting a special effort into this particular case "But right now we're not thinking about any of that" Kenzi reminded "Right now we're going to watch X-Men and spend the rest of the evening enjoying Hugh Jackman being shirtless and decked out in leather."

"Alright, alright we can watch the X-Men movies, but let me call Lauren see if we can figure out where the records room is." Bo said, pulling out her phone and seeing two text messages waiting in her inbox.

_From: Lauren Lewis _

_Sent: 9:58 pm _

_Another child with the same symptoms just got admitted. –Lauren _

_To: Lauren Lewis _

_Sent: 10:07 pm_

_How many does that make total? Also, give me a call _

_if you get a moment, have some questions. _

"Apparently there was another kid that just got admitted with the same symptoms." Bo said as she finished off the last bit of her ice cream "So where ever the source is, it hasn't stopped producing the mutation."

"Right, but that doesn't really help figure out where it's coming from."

"I know." Bo trailed off, looking at the second text message

_From: Dyson _

_Sent: 9:54 pm _

_What do you mean? _

Bo decided to ignore the text, she didn't feel like dragging Dyson into this, not right now. As they walked out of the harsh florescent lights and into the underglow of the street lights Kenzi slipped one arm around Bo's so they were linked by the elbow "You need a drink." she said

"Or three."

"Fine, or three, but forget about-"

The eruption of a generic ringtone cut Kenzi off and Bo pulled the phone out and say _LAUREN LEWIS _on the screen "Hold on Kenz, it's Lauren."

"the case." Kenzi finished with a sigh as Bo answered the phone

"Bo."

"_Hi, it's Laruen." _

"Yeah, I figured, thank for giving me a call. Uhm, how was the surgery?"

"_Fine, patient will recover." _

"That's good." Bo said and cursed herself, how had it suddenly become hard to talk to Lauren. It was Kenzi to the rescue, slapping Bo's arm and gesturing for her to get on with it "So I have some questions about our project."

"_Shoot." _

"How many cases have there been?"

"_Ballpark? Probably six cases, but that's only this hospital. There are dozens of hospitals and clinics around the city that might have the same cases." _

Bo sagged, that was not what she wanted to hear "We can't focus on the other potential hospitals right now, if we can find the source for the patients who went to your hospital then we can see if it applies to the others. But right now I need to know how close your records room is to the cafeteria."

"_Uhm, if I remember correctly their one floor apart. Cafeteria is on the ground floor and the records room is in the basement, I'm sorry I can't be more specific." _

"That, that helps." Bo sighed

"_Glad I can be of some use." _

"You're being very helpful, but if you happen to see Kenzi or I around the hospital tomorrow, ignore us."

"_What? Why? Oh no, you're not planning on-Bo, that's-" _

"It's already in motion Lauren, I'll talk to you tomorrow." Bo said hurriedly, wincing as she hung up.

"Well that sounded like it went well." Kenzi said with a smirk "Was she not a fan of our master plan?"

"Yeah, something like that." Bo said "How many of these X-Men movies are there?" she moaned

"Five." Kenzi said "And I happen to have at least the first three, so that should occupy us for tonight."

"Good." Bo said, slipping her arm back into Kenzi's "Because my head hurts and I need to not think for a long, long time."

Kenzi pulled Bo into a sideways hug "You'll be okay Bo-Bo. You'll be okay."

****End Chapter Two****


	3. Presenting, Dr Anna Crane

**Hello one and all, I bring the third chapter of Breathing Underwater for your enjoyment. It is also fair to mention that I start school again tomorrow so chapter updates may slide down to once a week, depending on how I balance school with my other writing projects. Once again, I must thank you guys, my readers, because so many of you have taken the time to let me know what works (and what doesn't work) when it comes to this story and I always, always appreciate it. Enjoy! **

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Bo and Kenzi had decided, after two x-men movies and a pot of coffee, that their plan would be most effective if they didn't arrive at the hospital together. They had left at the same time, but where Kenzi opted to take the bus, Bo had taken to walking a less direct route. Hands jammed in her jacket pockets, white headphones spiraling above her collar, Bo tried to keep calm. She was walking over the river now, head bowed down against the north wind that pushed against her. It was unseasonably chilly for the second week of September, a reminder that Chicago winters were cruel, cold and just around the corner.

As she flipped songs, Bo ignored the shiver that slipped down her spine, there was nothing to be nervous about, _this was just another case_ she told herself, or tried. Part of her knew that there was something different about this predicament, she called it a gut feeling, a gut feeling that she was standing on the edge of something big. How big, she couldn't guess considering she could barely concentrate on her own plan.

In essence it was simple, get in, get out, don't get caught. But there were too many independent variables for her liking, too many chances for things to go wrong or for her to get caught. Her hand curled around the ID in her pocket, the ID that Kenzi had procured early that day, producing it with a flourish and a grin _"Doctor Anna Crane." She said "Visiting doctor from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, that should get you through most doors."_

It brought her little comfort now, she knew nothing about medicine beyond CPR and if she got roped into something that required her to act professionally…everything would come crashing down around her ears. Bo hadn't heard from Lauren either, not since the unceremonious end of their conversation last night and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. The doctor had not seemed all too thrilled with the fragments of the plan she'd been able to piece together, almost downright uncomfortable with it and Bo hadn't gone out of her way to make it better.

In fact the only line of communication between them had been a text Bo sent just after she woke up

_To: Lauren Lewis_

_Sent: 10:09 am_

_Morning doc, stay calm and everything will be fine_

It was an attempt at soothing the both the doctors nerves and her own, although as far as Bo knew, Lauren may not even be working this afternoon. (some part of her prayed for that, the last thing she needed was for her stomach to jump in throat at the sight of the doctor in her scrubs).

Michigan Ave was sparse, typically so for a fall afternoon and Bo made quick work of the few blocks left until she turned right and off the main drag of Downtown.

Her phone vibrated a text from Kenzi

_From: Kenzi _

_Sent: 2:35 pm _

_Parked up and ready to go Bo-Bo. Let's get this over with. _

Bo slipped her phone back in her pocket and withdrew her headphones, wrapping them around her IPod as she approached the main entrance of the hospital. Her pulse thudded in her neck and she let out a slow breath as she reached the check-in desk "May I help you?" a middle-aged woman decked out with a black **SECURITY **shirt asked

"Hi, uh," Bo fidgeted just enough, fumbling her ID to the counter top for the guard to see it "I'm operating at the hospital today, Doctor Crane."

The woman scrutinized both Bo and the ID before nodding, looking in the distance as something caught her eye "You're in luck Dr. Crane, one of our surgeons is just coming this way, I'll have them show you to the surgical ward."

"Oh, no" Bo said, shaking her head "that's really not-"

"Doctor Lewis!" the woman called and Bo's heart sank, of all the people in the hospital…

"Melissa" came a familiar voice to Bo's left "how are you?"

"I'm doing jus fine Doctor, this here is Dr. Crane from the Mayo Clinic, says she's here to operate today, figured you could show her where to be?"

Bo looked over at Lauren and silently pleaded that the woman would keep her head and just go with it "Of course." She nodded, turning to smile at Bo "Dr. Crane, I do believe we've talked on the phone a couple of times."

"Yes, yes, it's finally nice to meet you in person." Bo replied, giving the guard a friendly smile and nod as they turned away.

Both women let out exhalations as the walked towards a bank of elevators, but they were no more than ten steps away when "Dr. Crane!" echoed towards them.

Bo turned "Yes?" she asked, forcing a smile and pretending like her heart rate hadn't just jumped through the roof.

"Your ID." The guard smiled, holding it out to her "Don't want to forget that."

"No, of course not. Thank you." Bo smiled, clipping her ID to the collar of the white coat Kenzi had also managed to procure.

Once out of earshot and waiting in front of the elevators Lauren turned to face Bo, her expression unreadable "What you're doing is illegal."

"Thanks for the reminder." Bo said "You asked for my help, this is what you get."

"And I suppose Kenzi is here as well?" Lauren demanded, surprising herself with her boldness, but then again this was the hospital, her turf, and if she wasn't already jumpy enough with two major surgeries in one day, she now had to worry about Bo and her friend getting caught in the midst of their plan.

"No." Bo lied "Solo operation."

Lauren just looked at her "What would you have done if she'd called someone else, you were lucky she caught me."

"Who said anything about luck." Bo retorted, stepping into the open elevator doors and pressing the **B **button.

The elevator was overly large and silent, but it was the tension between the two woman that made the ride seem long. Bo felt a mix of emotions flooding through her, far too many to deal with right now, or in the near future, but she couldn't top thinking about how much wanted to kiss Lauren. It was an urge that could be closer defined as a craving, something relentless and unyielding.

The elevator slid open and Bo stepped across the threshold and into the grey underbelly of the hospital without a word. But as the doors made to close they jerked open again and she felt a hand close around her wrist "Be careful." Lauren said, looking directly into her eyes.

Bo nodded, meeting the doctors gaze with wavering confidence "Yeah." She promised "I will."

The doors slid shut and Bo was left with the silence of her pounding heart.

"Records room. Records room." she muttered looking around for a sign, or some sort of guide through the maze of doors and hallways before her "gotcha."

There was a sign pinned to the wall on her left, various destinations and arrows guiding the wanderer to their destination. The Patient Files Archive as it was entitled on the sign had an arrow indicating to her right emblazoned at the end. She spun on her heel and headed that way, following the curve of the building until she saw a square of florescent light shadow out onto the floor.

The desk was empty, only a silver bell positioned in the middle with a handwritten note of _please ring for service _taped down next to it. Bo rung, and suppressed a cringe as it echoed around the deserted hallway. Nothing happened for a while and she looked around for a way in, but was met with only a knobless door. It seemed that it needed to be opened from the inside, or enter some sort of numeric code into a pad on the right.

Then, a man emerged from a back room, a can of seltzer water in one hand as she approached the front desk "Can I help you?" he asked, squinting at her through wire framed glasses.

"Uh, yes, I need to look at some older patient files."

"Got ID?" he demanded

"Of course." She said, unclipping it and handing it to him.

He looked at it and shook his head "Sorry doc, only members of the hospital can view these files."

Her heart dropped but she spoke quickly, not letting herself get caught up in the change of plans "Please" she started, leaning forward over the counter slightly "I've got a major surgery I have to perform and I just need to refresh my memory on the specifics of the pilot case for this operation. It would only take a few minutes."

He looked at her, then down at the ID "You're from the Mayo Clinic?"

"Yes sir."

He nodded "Good place. My wife had heart problems, they treated us real good there."

"It's one of the best cardiac hospitals in the country." She said, remembering the information the Google search had spat out at her.

"Indeed." He agreed, looking down at his watch "How about this, I've got a ten minutes break coming up, if I happened to leave the door open then maybe you could look at your files."

"That's all I need." Bo gushed "Thank you sir."

"I don't know what you're thanking me for" he said, turning away from her "I can't help you."

Bo nodded, stepping back from the counter and watching him disappear for a moment before the door swung open. He gave her a wink and headed down the hallway, Bo moved forward and caught the door just as it began to close. Entering the small office, she made sure to ease the door shut quietly as she could before moving into the depths of the archives.

Digging in her purse she pulled out the pocket scanner and after a cursory scan of her surroundings, was relieved to see no cameras. Accompanying the scanner was a folded paper that included the five names that Lauren had given her the previous evening.

_Kenneth Krieger _

_Emma Wildeson _

_Daniel Jacboson _

_Jack Baker _

_Isabella Wright _

Bo sighed, nothing like having them scattered across the entire damn alphabet to make this even more complicated. It took her five minutes to gather all the correct patient binders and carry them to one of the study rooms allocated to the sides of the hall. Placing the scanner on the table, Bo let out a calming breath and pressed the power button. Nothing. Then, it flashed red twice.

"Shit." She cursed, eyeing a similar room on the opposite side of the archives.

Walking as quickly as she dared, she closed the door and let all the files drop to the table as she pressed the power button again. Nothing. Bo could almost hear her heart pounding against her ribs as she waited. Then, green, green.

She was a go.

Opening the top file, _Isabella Wright_, Bo looked at the first pages. What she needed was the patient history, the specifics of the operation wouldn't tell her anything that Lauren couldn't. Flipping through, it seemed the first five to seven pages were all history, vaccinations, past hospital visits, known allergies, or other possible complications.

Snapping those pages out of the binder Bo went about putting them through the scanner watching as the green light flashed each time a scan was successfully copied to the computer. It took only a couple minutes to get through the first four binders, but when she hit _Kenneth Krieger _she let out a groan. He had ten or more pages of medical history. She took out as many as she could and looked at the clock, only a minute or two at the max until the desk clerk came back.

She was about two thirds of the way through Kenneth's pages when it started flashing red and the scrolling text on the side read _Disconnected from computer, restart computer to continue. _

Bo's stomach clenched, there was nothing she could do about it now. She put the scanner away in her purse and reorganized Kenneth's files. She heard a door open and close, he was back. Moving as silently as she could, Bo put all the files back in their proper, alphabetized spot, only letting out a breath when the clerk gave her a nod as she made her way out "Thank you." She said

"Good luck with your surgery today." He replied

Now she only needed to make it out of the hospital.

* * *

The walk back was colder, but Bo was moving at a brisk pace. Adrenaline was still pumping, every sense heightened as she trekked through the city. Her thoughts centered around the flashing red message _Disconnected from computer, restart computer to continue. _Upon seeing it, she had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, but had refrained from swinging through the cafeteria on her way out.

She hadn't dared text Kenzi either, not knowing the circumstances upon which her computer had shut down. Was it by force? Had she been caught? Maybe her computer just died, but as much as Bo tried to tell herself that that was the source of the problem it didn't sit right with her. Kenzi was always prepared for their cases, down to the smallest details of their plans, there was no way that she would let such an important aspect, like the power of her computer, fall to the wayside.

Adrenaline was turning into nervous, heart pounding anxiety as Bo walked up the three flights of stairs inside their apartment complex. She dug her keys out of her purse and put them in the lock, opening the door she wasn't sure what to expect. But when the door bounced back against the wall and she saw Kenzi sitting on the sofa watching the TV and eating pretzels by the handful, Bo was relieved.

Closing the door behind her, Bo dropped the purse to the floor as Kenzi bounced up "And with your safe return, the mission is complete." She said "You will never believe what happened to me in that hospital."

"You better start telling me." Bo sighed, getting a glass of water from the kitchen.

"So I'm sitting in the cafeteria right, the scans are being downloaded, I'm eating a sandwich and mostly blending in. Then of all things, Doctor Lewis walks in."

"What?" Bo asked, astonished.

"She sat right down at my table and all but forced me to put my laptop away." Kenzi explained further "She starts going on about how this isn't what she thought we would do, how we're breaking patient confidentiality, she wouldn't shut up."

"I told her." Bo groaned "I told her, I told her."

"Now there's a connection, any dope who suspects something can just look at the video camera's and see exactly what happened." Kenzi said "Not to mention I had to skedaddle out of there before someone called security."

Bo took a seat on the sofa next to Kenzi and set the glass down "But we got the information we needed right?"

"Yup, it's printing right now."

"Well that's something. I'll have to call Lauren later and see what her problem is, she seemed so sure of everything yesterday."

Kenzi shook her head "You have the influence Bo."

"What influence?"

"The 'I can handle it' influence." Bo looked at Kenzi doubtfully "Oh come on, it's just" Kenzi floundered "look" she finally said "when people talk to you, when they tell you their problems you're really, really good at making it seem like you're going to be able to handle it. You're really good at calming them down, making it seem like their problem isn't that bad. So, maybe, Lauren seemed all go team for this plan yesterday, when she was with you, but then she woke up this morning and realized that everything is not okay."

"So she could have called and I would have calmed her down." Bo exclaimed, exasperated.

"You hung up on her last night."

"But that-"

"Oh but it does-"

Bo lapsed into silence, reaching into the pretzels and grabbing a handful "So now we look for anything in common?" Kenzi asked

"Yeah, I guess, let's hope we find something after all that."

"You never did tell me how it went for you." Kenzi called to Bo, who was heading to the printer to collect their small novel's worth of illegally obtained data.

Returning to the living room Bo set the stack of pages on the coffee table and grabbed the pile of pens and highlighter, setting them down as she retook her seat "Hit a few snags at the front desk when the guard insisted on calling someone from surgery down to escort me. Luckily Lauren was passing by so I didn't have to explain why nobody knew I was coming. Got into the basement fine, but the clerk at the archives room instised that only hospital staff were allowed to view the files."

"You didn't clock he guy did you?" Kenzi asked

"No" Bo replied, shaking her head "Turns out his wife had surgery at the Mayo clinic and he conveniently left the door open when he took his break."

"Kenzi with the score." Kenzi cheered "I told you they would get you through all doors."

"Technically you said most, but it got the job done." Bo corrected

"And that's all the matters." Kenzi finished "What did the lady doc say to you?"

"Some thing as you really, how illegal this is, how I was lucky they didn't call someone else to escort me." Bo rattled off the incident, but neglected to mention the grab of her wrist and the sincerely uttered _Be careful. _

"What about these pages huh" Kenzi started "You want to order a pizza and start digging?"

Bo looked down at the stack with a reluctant sigh "How about we go to The Dal and look at it, I don't want to spend another night surrounded by medical terms I don't understand and pretzels."

"That" Kenzi agreed "is a fantastic idea. Trick still needs to explain to me exactly why he's still associates with people he owes money too." Bo shot Kenzi a look "What" she shrugged "you owe 'em money you don't walk up to their doorstep and ask for the next weeks order of sauerkraut. Even if it is their mothers recipe."

"Good to know."

"What you plan on getting in debt any time soon?"

"No" Bo grinned "Just filing it away with all the other useful things you've shared."

"Is that sarcasm I hear, because last time I checked my bountiful wisdom has gotten us out of a few close shaves."

"No sarcasm, just plenty of questions." Bo replied from her room, pulling on shoes and wrangling a jacket from her closet.

"I'm sure you do." Kenzi smirked as they approached the front door "You got the files?"

Bo lifted her purse, indicating she hadn't forgotten them "After everything we did today, you think I'm going to forget them?"

"Don't tell me that an evening at The Dal with food, some of Tricks strange friends and alcohol doesn't sound glorious right about now."

They stepped out into the afternoon air, the five pm rush clogging the busses and forcing them to walk. It wasn't a particularly long journey by any means, and after the stress of the past few hours Bo was grateful for a chance to walk without the paranoid feeling that she was being followed. She was grateful also for Kenzi's chatter, small talk that didn't have anything to do with conflicted emotions or their case.

As they reached The Dal and it's faded, hanging sign, Bo saw a familiar car parked, lights flashing, along the curb. They pulled open the door and she caught sight of Dyson standing at the counter, talking something over with Trick. It looked serious, but the moment Trick saw Bo and Kenzi they changed the topic. It was a barely perceptible change, but Bo saw it all. The slight shake of the head Trick gave, the way he cut Dyson off mid-sentence as the bell above the door tinkled, right down to the half-jerk that Dyson gave as he turned to see who had come in.

"You guys here for a drink?" Trick asked

"Amongst other things." Bo said "Food, work, and a couple of much needed beers."

"Pick a table." Trick said, turning back to Dyson "You hanging around?"

"No" Dyson shook his head "I'm still on shift and I've got some other places to be."

Bo barely suppressed her sigh and an eye roll as he gave them an awkward nod and headed out the door. As it shut, Bo said "He still have his head up his ass?"

Trick brought two beers from under the counter and handed them over "You know that's not fair. He's struggling."

"He's acting like I'm the one who shot him is what he's doing."

"He's not sure what to do." Trick argued gently, he knew that the situation wasn't easy for Bo or Dyson.

"How about get over it." Bo suggested under her breath "Is it okay if we set up camp in the back tonight?"

Trick glanced towards the door "Sure, what's with the need for privacy?"

"Case stuff." Bo said "Files that we shouldn't be looking at, let alone stray customers."

"Ah" Trick nodded, a knowing spark in his eye "The back room is all yours. The computer is a bit dodgy but there's space and I'll keep the door shut."

"Thanks." Bo said, heading back as Kenzi rounded on Trick.

"I've got a bone to pick with you." She said, hopping up on one of the bar stools "you've got some serious problems with your business."

Bo shook her head and grinned as she moved into the back. This particular part of The Dal was more living room than storage area, even with Trick living just above his business. There was a beaten red couch in the corner, one that Bo had spent many a night on when she first got to Chicago, a giant table, eight feet long and made of sturdy redwood took up another expanse of space. But Bo's favorite feature of the room was the fireplace. Handmade by Trick himself, it was the part of the room that made Bo feel most at home.

It was too hot to have roaring during the summer, but come the brutal winter nights and Bo knew she would spend a lot of time on the rug laid out across the stone, or on the sofa talking the night away with Trick, or Kenzi. She used to spend time with Dyson here, curled on the couch together, laughing, talking, or playing cards at the table, one round after the next, each getting more competitive and more outrageous. Bo tried not to think of those moments now, as she organized the pages out in front of her.

What was worse was the memory of getting the phone call, she remembered her heart dropping and-

No.

Not again.

She'd gone over the moment a thousands times, hundreds in the hours after the conversation with Dyson, but after getting extraordinarily drunk with Kenzi she'd vowed to move on. And moving on involved strictly not thinking about getting phone calls from hospitals telling you a cop has been shot. No, definitely no thinking about that allowed.

But focusing on the pages of information was no more appealing. It seemed that Kenzi has stepped out for this portion of the evening, assumedly getting roped into making food or running more errands for Trick. This figured, Bo set about making connections herself.

She started with the basics and found they were similar in age (_eight to ten years old) _but the elementary schools they attended varied and their addresses were scattered across the cities north, south and west sides. She even booted up Tricks aged PC and looked up local sports teams that the kids played on but found the only crossover was in the championship rounds where three of the five kids had played in the weekend tournament.

It was only when Kenzi dragged her out of her searching for sandwich's and a quick break did Bo realize how much information she still had to go through and as discouraging as the past few hours had been, the information yet to explore gave her hope. Not to mention having some food in her belly and letting her mind wander for a bit probably helped.

"You gunna stick around and help me with the rest of this?" Bo asked and Kenzi collected the empty plates.

"Trick's got me making food and cleaning dishes." She said "But believe me Bo, I'd rather be back here."

"I'm sure you would." Bo laughed "Is Nate out there?"

Kenzi blushed "No, he hasn't come back since last weekend when he helped me replace the busted glass from the windows."

"That's not what Trick said." Bo taunted "He said Nate had come back a couple of times."

"Wha-he never told me." Kenzi said, turning on the balls of her feet and moving back out to question Trick.

Bo let out a sigh and turned back to her work. There were pages of names and places crisscrossing, lines drawn trying to connect anyone and plenty of question marks. She entered her search with renewed vigor, looking for anything she could use.

Around seven pm, not that Bo knew the time, she started putting the puzzle pieces together. She had a brain wave and just as she was trying to kick start Tricks' computer again she heard her name "Bo! Get out here!"

It was mingled with the calls of "Alright everyone, taps closed, everyone out!"

Confused, worried and on a hot streak Bo entered into the search bar **Free Clinic, back to school. **

"Bo where are you?" came the same voice, this time distinctly Kenzi's and could be heard above the bustle of people getting out.

Curiosity piqued Bo walked out of the back room "What's the ru-" she started, but stopped as her eyes landed on Lauren "What the hell happened?"

Lauren was leaning against the glass case, one arm cradled to her chest, a rapidly swelling black eye and a cut lip the only visible injuries, but from her labored breathing Bo suspected there was more. She moved to Lauren in three easy strides, bringing a finger and running it, feather light, over the bruise "Who did this?" she asked, reading Lauren's face as she fliched.

"I-I-" Lauren started "I don't know."

****End Chapter Three********


	4. Remember What I Said

**Hey all, so I'm back after a long, oh so long, week of school. I thank you all for reviewing the previous chapters, for taking the time to read my story and, of course, for waiting. This one is a bit short than last week but it's the first time our ladies are really alone, let's see how it goes shall we? Enjoy. **

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Bo stands by the door, listening as Kenzi and Trick lock up the place and head out, just to give the two women some space. Lauren is planted by the table, digging slowly through the first aid kit, her back to Bo. The room is silent, except for Lauren's sorting, but Bo wishes it were otherwise. There's the small problem that Lauren won't let Bo anywhere near her. There's this underlying anger, driven by fear, that has encapsulated Lauren, overcome her and keeping Bo at arms length.

"Is there anything you need?" Bo asks, wishing that Lauren would say yes….but unsurprised when she replies otherwise.

"I've got it." Lauren snapped "You don't need to stick around, I'm sure you've got- other things to do."

"Like what?" Bo responds, not moving from her place by the door "Look, Lauren, I've known you for about thirty hours now and in that time I've broken into a hospital, impersonated a doctor that doesn't exist, stolen patient files. Let's not forget to add the fact that you just got jumped. I'm not going anywhere."

"Well maybe you should go." Lauren spat, her words harsh and bitter "Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea."

"You don't believe that."

Lauren turned around and her eyes flashed "How do you know what I believe?" she spat through gritted teeth.

Bo stepped forward, halving the distance between them "I don't, I barely know you beyond a Google. And al that told me was that you're one of the best pediatric surgeons in the country, probably the world. I know that means you're incredibly hardcore, but more than that I know that it means that you care about the kids. I know that you want to know what's happening to these kids and I know that seeing them in constant pain for even a couple of minutes is unbearable." She was on a roll now, and carefully watched the doctors face as she continued to talk "I know that you're in the middle of something big and the fact that you're amazing at your job is probably the one thing that kept you alive tonight."

Lauren's eyes dropped, and she didn't reply for a long while but when she did her voice was low and the pain was unmistakable, although from her physical injuries or otherwise, Bo couldn't tell "These kids are being tested on, and it's being done in the crudest of possible ways, that much I know. I know that the changes to their blood are deadly and incredibly complex, which means that the people who are behind this must have deep pockets and eyes everywhere. I've made myself a target because I started digging and they gave me a warning, this makes two. I know that I should back off, that I should stop digging and go back to operating and saving lives." She paused, letting her good arm take her weight as she leaned back against the table.

Bo moved to help her but Lauren stiffened and she froze, keeping her distance "I can-"

Lauren ignored her, unclenching her jaw and letting out a long breath "What I don't know, Bo, isn't how you can help or if you can, but if I should let you keep going." A bitter smile crossed her lips as she met Bo's gaze "I almost got killed tonight and the first place I thought to come was here, I was going to tell you to back off, to forget about it. Then I remembered what you said, yesterday and-"

"I see everything through." Bo reminded her "And you told me you were okay with that."

"That was before I got jumped in my own home." Lauren countered "These people, whoever they are, sent me a message, maybe it was meant for you as well."

"I don't care." Bo replied immediately "About their scare tactics" she amended "It gives me all the more reason to go after them, but it's you that I'm worried about."

"I've been in worse."

"I don't want you to get hurt again."

"The only way for that to happen is for you to let this all go." Lauren said "Believe me I've tried to think of other ways for this to work, but-"

"I've got an idea, one idea mind you, but first, will you please let me help you?"

"Fine." Lauren sighed and Bo moved to come help "But Bo, you have to promise me something."

"If it's related to stopping-"

"It's not" Lauren shook her head "I couldn't do that, I can't stop myself from digging. But I-I want you to be careful, more careful than you normally would. And I want you to not brush me off, I know you think I'm just some doctor over my head-"

"I don't." Bo started, but her comment was ignored as Lauren continued to talk

"-but these were my patients, I had to look these kids parents in the eye and tell them that I didn't know what was wrong with their children. You can't shut me out of this."

"Of course." Bo said "I was never meaning to-"

"You hung up on me."

"You were panicking." Bo floundered

"And I'm sure you've never dealt with panick-y people before." Lauren said dryly.

"You're different." Bo blurted before she could stop the words from slipping past her lips.

Lauren looked at her, something tugging at the corners of her lips as she replied "May I ask why?"

_Of all the things to say _Bo chastised herself, tying to come up with something to say that didn't sound overly awkward "You just are, I can't explain it." Bo said finally, looking firmly at the floor.

Lauren wanted to probe more, part of her wanted to know if Bo was feeling something like she was. Not that there was exactly something Lauren could put her finger on, it was like trying to keep hold of soap, the words lingered for only a moment before slipping away. But Lauren recognized the twisting in her stomach as Bo took a step towards her, fingers brushing against her shirt "Can we take this off?" she asked, her voice lilting to a question.

"Yeah" Lauren nodded "My arm though, it's not broken, but it's definitely bruised."

"I'm here to help." Bo said "I'm sure we can figure it out."

Lauren swallowed, decidedly ignoring the way her skin blazed and smoldered as Bo's fingers brushed her skin as she grabbed the hem of Lauren's shirt "We cold try and lift it, or I could cut it, might be less painful."

"Then I'm without a shirt." Lauren pointed out "Or I have a ripped shirt that I can't wear."

"I have some extra clothes upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Lauren breathed as Bo grabbed the scissors from the table, the cool metal skimmed her skin and she caught her breath.

"Trick keeps some clothes, in case I need 'em or sleep here or whatever." Bo shrugged, looking up at the doctors dilated pupils and swallowing, when had her throat gotten this dry?

"You spend a lot of time here then?"

"This is more or less home base." She said, cutting the doctors shirt off with two careful slices and gathering the pieces to rest on the table.

Lauren shivered, although not from the cold, she could feels Bo's eyes on her surveying the damage "Just some bruised ribs" Lauren said, her breath catching again as Bo ran a hand down the curve of her spine, surveying expertly for bruises or other damages "You done this before?" she asked, desperate to focus on anything but how close they were.

Bo, enraptured by the exposed skin in front of her, took a full three seconds to realize that Lauren had asked her a question "Come again?"

"You know what you're doing, looking for internal injuries, I'm wondering how. If I'm allowed to ask."

"Sure, sure" Bo smiled, looking over at Lauren from where she moved to get some things from the table "you can ask me anything, doesn't matter, I'll try and answer. As for that question, my line of, uhm, work doesn't really lead me to interact with the best of people. I've gotten in some scrapes of my own before, after a while you learn what to look for."

"Worst injury?" Lauren blurted "Sorry, sorry, that just came out-"

"Lauren" Bo laughed, returning to front of the doctor bearing two some alcohol wipes and a roll of gauze "I said you could to ask anything, don't apologize for asking."

Lauren suppressed her embarrassment, hissing as Bo went about cleaning a graze on her arm "Worst injury?" she repeated through clenched teeth.

Bo thought about it, trading wipe for the roll of gauze "Punctured lung." She replied, wrapping the gauze and reaching for the tape "Took a kick to the ribs that flat out broke a couple of 'em, the loose bits punctured my lung. Kenzi had to the rush me to the hospital…" something flickered in Bo's eyes as she trailed off "I almost died that day." She added, almost to herself

"I-I'm sorry." Lauren said "That must have been-" she cut off, what was the best way to say awful, pain, traumatic?

"A learning experience." Bo said, tone changing "I learned never to go into a meeting unarmed after that." She said "Now I always carry."

"That's one way to take it." Lauren commented "Not that I'm trying to offended to, I just, most people would have backed off."

Bo smiled "You need to stop worrying about offending me doctor, I'm not made of glass, and you might learn that I'm not like most people."

"I think I've gotten that already." Lauren said wryly

"Oh really." Bo replied with a smile as she stepped back "So we've got the cuts covered and you're not too damaged in your ribs, I would ice everything, but I'm not the one with the PhD."

"Icing is about all I can do." Lauren said, reaching for the tattered shirt but stopping herself.

"I can run upstairs and grab you something to wear." Bo said, pausing by the staircase and giving Lauren a serious look "Where are you staying?"

Lauren was taken aback "I was planning on going home, there's a lot to clean up."

"Oh no way Doc" Bo said, shaking her head "No way, you can stay with Kenz and I, do you work tomorrow?"

"Bo, I can't possibly impose on you like that."

"Consider yourself invited and thus, not imposing on anyone." Lauren shifted, hands wrapped around her stomach as she looked anywhere but Bo "Lauren, look at me, please." Lauren dragged her eyes up to meet Bo's gaze "You were attacked, and I-I hate that it happened to you because let's face it, Kenzi and I's expedition into the hospital caused it. I want to" she let out a breath "I want to find out who did this to you, and I want to make them hurt. But right now I can't, right now we need to make connections and keep you safe."

"I can handle myself."

"I'm not saying you can't Lauren, but I'm not letting you go home alone, not tonight anyway." Bo broke off for a moment "Please."

Lauren bit her lip "I don't work tomorrow."

"So come, at the very least let me keep you awake in case you have a concussion."

Lauren relented "Fine." She said "But tomorrow-"

"Tomorrow we can go to your place and clean up."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Bo grinned, disappearing upstairs, leaving Lauren alone and shirtless in the back room.

As she listened to Bo traipse about above her, Lauren tried to take even breaths, and calm herself. The adrenaline was wearing off and the full impact of what had happened to her was beginning to hit it her. The memory of opening her door and immediately feeling that something was off, or was it the presence of that who had been waiting behind the door that made her body tense. She remembered reaching for the lights and a hand curling viselike around her wrist and wrenching it behind her back.

_Slammed into a wall. _

_Shouting out. _

_Dropping to the floor. _

_Kick. _

_Struggle to her feet. _

_It's too dark. _

_Too many people. _

_Wall. _

It's a flurry of images and pain as she tries to remember any small details about the men who ravaged her apartment

_Hand, there was a _hand, on her wrist, she tensed, and pulled back "Lauren, Lauren." There was a voice.

It was Bo.

Christ.

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and opened her eyes, Bo was standing on front of her, a shirt draped over one shoulder, she was holding Lauren's hands and trying to get her to focus "You okay?" she asked "I came back down and you were freaking out."

"I'm fine." Lauren said, her voice coiled as she took the offered shirt and started to pull it on.

"Let me help." Bo said as Lauren struggled to get it over her bad arm, gingerly Lauren, with the assistance of Bo, worked her strained arm into the clothing "You want something to eat?"

Lauren, not quite recovered from her flashback shook her head "No thank you."

"Alright." Bo shrugged "Let me pack some things up and then we can head back to the apartment."

"What about Kenzi?"" Lauren asked

"She's out doing go knows what with Trick, I'll let her know where I've gone but she'll be fine."

Lauren watched as Bo moved around the room collecting papers and organizing them into various piles before stuffing them into a bag "Is that from the hospital?" she asks

"Yeah" Bo nodded "I was looking over them before you arrived, and actually was making some connections."

"Oh yeah" Lauren said, curiosity piqued "What were you thinking?"

"Shots." Bo said, "Or something like that, I have it all written down." She explained, calling over her shoulder as she got the last of her things together "You ready to go?"

"Yeah" Lauren said, moving to follow Bo out of The Dal "Do you lock up or…?"

"No one is dumb enough to try and steal from Trick." Bo smirked, holding the door open for Lauren "The one guy that did got a lot worse than the cops called on him."

"What happened?" Lauren asked

"Trick put him to work, and next thing you know they're best friends and he's a working for the CPD."

"You mean Dyson?"

"Yup" Bo said "Idiot broke into The Dal back in it's early days, Trick caught him red handed and made him work until he'd earned double the amount he stole, he did something else but neither of em talk about it and no ones tried robbing Trick since. So I guess it worked."

"Strange." Lauren murmured, almost to herself.

"What is?"

"How all of you seem to know each other." Lauren commented "Dyson, Trick, you, how does Kenzi fit in?"

"That's a long story" Bo said

"We have a long night if you're watching me for a concussion."

"I'll tell you when we get back, or better yet I'll wait for Kenz to tell you, she tells the story best."

"Story sounds good already." Lauren said, looking over at Bo, catching the way the woman walked, hands jammed into her pockets, eyes focused elsewhere as she walked he familiar streets.

There was something there, an attribute less describable to the doctor, even with all her years of schooling, that she couldn't quite put her fingers on. Something about Bo maybe, or the way Bo made her feel….even after thirty hours. Or, on the other hand, maybe it was just the post-adrenaline crash making her overanalyze, either way, tonight held more than apprehension and nerves. Lauren knew she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.

* * *

****End Chapter Four** **


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